In Brief... World News Review: Our Planet's Fresh Water: the Coming Crisis
Will we be fighting over water?
Nearly a billion people in some 50 nations are already experiencing severe water shortages. And unfortunately official projections tell us that the worst is yet to come.
Also a recent article in Newsweek pointed out that every eight seconds a child dies from a water-related disease and 80 percent of diseases in the developing world are caused by contaminated water supplies. Some 50 percent of the earth's population lacks adequate water sanitation.
An even more disturbing possibility is that future wars may very well be fought over water. Wrote the Science Editor of the Independent on Sunday: "In 25 years the world will be 20 percent short of water even if every country implements the most efficient conservation programs imaginable." Ismail Serageldin, the chairman of the World Commission on Water, stated that the factors responsible for the coming crisis are a rising global population, an ever-increasing demand and worsening pollution of water supplies.
The Middle East could conceivably be a flashpoint because the general area is already arid, and water disputes, both actual and potential, tend to mark the region. Israel and Jordan are currently in conflict over an Israeli proposal to cut the desert kingdom's water supplies. Also Iraq and Syria fear Turkish designs in building a dam on the Euphrates with the potential power of withholding water from those two countries. The Egyptians have their own concerns as the Nile flows through seven other countries before reaching Egypt. These include Uganda and war-torn Sudan.
World News and Prophecy will be watching global fresh water trends very closely.
(Newsweek, March 29, 1999 (Atlantic edition); The Express, March 20, 1999; The Independent on Sunday, March 21, 1999.)
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: April - May 1999
Course Content
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
David Palmer
Born in Saskatchewan Canada, David Palmer was first introduced to the radio broadcast of the World Tomorrow during his career in broadcasting, when the program was aired during his on air shift. In 1965 his radio career took him to Vancouver British Columbia, where he was eventually baptized, and began attending Sabbath services. He was ordained to the ministry in 1983. Now retired from broadcasting David currently pastors congregations in Vancouver, and Vancouver Island. He is also a member of the UCG-Canada National Council, and serves on the Canadian Ministerial Services Team, as well as the Canadian Media Team
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
